Book end construction



Patented Dec. 20, 1938 UNITED STATES 2,140,656 BooK END CONSTRUCTION Manville D. Smith, New `York, N. Y.

Application September 2, 1936, Serial No. 99,009

claims. (o1. zii-43) i The present invention relates to a book end construction,

It is among the objects of the present invention to provide a book end and holder construc- 5 tion which is adapted to hold any number of books from one to ten, or more, without any tendency of the books to fall or become readily dislodged if a certain predetermined number is not positioned on the rack and with assurance that the books will be held centered upon the rack substantially regardless of the number of books which should be placed in the rack.

Another object is to provide an inexpensive, yet artistic book end and holder construction in which the books may be readily placed in position without injury and Without theneed of manually adjusting book holding elements.

Other objects will be obvious or will appear during the course of the following specification. In one embodiment of the present invention, a base structure is provided carrying two movable elements such as balls or wedges Whichmovable elements are provided with a guide and biasing arrangement tending to move them together against one or any number of books which may be placed between the elements or in the structure.

In the preferred form of construction,'the base is inclined or concaved toward the center and the side elements are provided with springs connected to the center of the base which springs tend to draw the elements together.

Each of the elements is preferably provided with a roller table which rests upon the sloping base and responds readily to the biasing force of the springs to draw the book holding elements together.

Although in the preferred construction, balls are employed as the book contact elements, it is to be understood that wedge-like, pyramid-like or various types of objects could be employed as such movable contact elements.

The above and other objects will appear more clearly from the following detailed description which when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, will illustrate preferred embodiments of the inventive idea.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a side view of the structure showing the base in longitudinal section, said section being taken upon the line I-I of Figure 3.

Figure 2 is a top view taken upon the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view upon the line 3-3 of Figure l.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary transverse sectional View upon the line 4-4 of Figure 1 upon a somewhat enlarged scale showing the guide and rolling table means for the ball.

vFigure 5 is a fragmentary transverse sectional view on the line 5 5 of Figure 4 showing the VVi rolling table construction.

Referring to Figures l to 5, the base A carries the ball contact elements B, between which the books indicated diagrammatically at C may be supported. l0

The base A may consist of wood or of an aluminum die casting and it is provided with a top structure I0 which slopes down to the middle at II and is provided with a series of ridges I2,

I3 and I4. These ridges extend down at I6 l5 along the endstructure I'I of the base.

The bottom I8 of the base A may be covered with felt, if desired. The middle ridges I4 are cut oi, as indicated at I9, and the endsk I9 of the ridges I4 act as stops for the tables 20. The 20 rtables 20 iit closely between the ridges I3, as best shown in Figure 3.

The ball elements B are received in recesses 2| inthe tables 20 and the rods.22 extend downwardly from the balls `B through the slot 25 to 25 the lower guides 23 fitting in a groove 24 in the base of the table. The rods 22 are held in position by the nuts 2E.

yThe sides ofthe blocks 23 are provided with recesses 2lY which receive the coil springs 28. The 30 coil springs are attached at their outer ends to the rods 22 and at their inner ends to the eyelets 29 which screw into the block 30, said block being positioned in the base A.

The table 20 is preferably provided with a series 35 of recesses 3|, as shown best in Figure 5, which receive the rollers 32. These rollers have the shaft ends 33 ending in the table 20. These rollers enable the ready moving of the balls B away from each other upon the insertion of books C or 40 toward each other upon removal of books C under action of the spring 28.

In operation, the balls B are readily separated by the insertion of books therebetween, the recess as indicated in dotted lines at D in Figure 1, enabling the book to be readily inserted without the necessity of drawing or moving the balls apart and then pressing them together again.

The springs 28 will normally bias the balls B 50 together and the tables 20 with the rollers 32 will permit ready movement of the balls to permit either insertion of books or removal thereof.

As is apparent, the structure presents a most artistic appearance, may be used readily as an 55 ornament with or without the books C and is relatively inexpensive to manufacture.

The balls B with the table 20 and the springs 28 provide an automatic adjustment which takes up any reasonable number of books, the device readily receiving any number of books from one to five or six in number.

The contact members B may be made of other shapes so long as the recess D is formed, which recess offers a convenient wedge-shaped opening or slot adapted to receive books and enabling the insertion of books to separate the balls B.

The balls B may be made of plastic materials or of glass, wood or metal. If desired, they may be hollowed to reduce their weight and they may receive a light, if they are of translucent or transparent nature.

The connections to the electric lamp within the balls B may readily be made through the shafts 22.

It is apparent that the specic illustrations shown above have been given by Way of illustration and not by way of limitation and that the structures .above described are subject to wide variation and modification without departing from the scope or intent of the invention, all of which variations and modications are to be included within the scope of the present invention.

What is claimed is: Y i

1. A book holder construction comprising a double wedge-shaped longitudinally recessed base, a pair of movable holders, saidholders each including a ball and a plate supporting said ball provided with rollers resting upon said base, means to bias said holders together, and means to guide said holders in their movement, said guiding means including a plurality of ridges extending longitudinally of said base and square elements pivotally connected to said holders and received in said longitudinal recess, and said biasing means including two springs enclosed in the base, xed at their outer ends to the holders and at their inner ends to the middle of the base.

2. A book holder construction comprising a base provided with longitudinal recesses in its upper and lower faces, a movable holder member, another holder member, means to bias said holder members together, and means to guide said movable holder in its movement, said guide means including a stud connected to said movable holder extending into said recesses and block members attached to said stud and sliding and guided in said recesses.

3. A book holder construction comprising a base provided with longitudinal recesses upon its upper and lower faces, a pair of movable holders, means to bias said holders together, said holders each including a ball and a plate supporting said ball, said plate being provided with rollers riding upon said base in the upper longitudinal recess, and means sliding in the lower longitudinal recess yelongated base of rectangular shape which is provided with a series of parallel ridges extending longitudinally thereof and downwardly along the narrow sides of said base, the upper portion of `said base sloping downwardly toward its central portion, a pair of movable holders resting upon said base, said holders each including a ball to contact the books, a table having a recess receiving said ball and a plurality of rollers, said rollers resting upon said base, a central pin projecting Adownwardly from said ball and through said table and a squared guide member attached to the lowest portion of said pin, said base being provided with a longitudinal recess receiving said guide member, the central portion of said recess *being provided with a block having attachments and coil springs extending through said longitudinal recess and connected at one end to said attachment and at the other ends extending into said squared guide members and being connected to said pins, the central parallel ridge being in part removed to provide a runway for said table,

the sides of said table being guided against the adjacent parallel ridges of each side of said removed central parallel ridge and being stopped by the remaining portions of said central parallel ridge.

MANVILLE D. SMITH.

y to prevent the plate from being lifted out of posi- 

